Rise of Smriti Irani: Journey from bahu of TV to BJP's Vice President

NEW DELHI "I have an ideological umbilical cord with the BJP...we are three generation party supporters... my grandfather was a swayamsevak, my mother, a BJP booth activist". That's Smriti Irani (37), vice-president, BJP, emphasizing that her ties with the party are old, tested and wound in family tradition. But there's little that's traditional in Irani's current role and profile in the BJP. The rise of this former McDonald outlet burger flipper, Miss India contestant, model, and television soap superstar in the party is best understood in terms of two striking departures from the usual.

The daughter of a Bengali-Punjabi family, married to a Parsi, Zubin Irani, a mother of three children (including one child from her husband's first marriage), Irani, a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat, is now widely acknowledged in the BJP as a key member of Narendra Modi's inner circle. Given what Modi is to the BJP now, that by itself makes her an out-of-ordinary BJP vicepresident. But what makes her more noticeable, say senior BJP leaders, who spoke on the condition they not be identified, is that she's "a very different kind of Modi confidante". That's the first departure from norm.Modi's inner circle, said a BJP leader, has people who have grown with him in Gujarat politics, wily strategists like Amit Shah, and dedicated tech-savvy professionals who crunch data. Irani, this leader said, is different because she's the most public, most media-accessible, in some ways the most pleasant face of the Modi caucus - and Modi trusts her with communicating with sections of India Inc and the diplomatic establishment.

She has Modi's trust all the way, a top Mumbai industrialist who knows Irani and Modi well said. Another captain of the industry, who also knows the BJP PM candidate and his team well, said Irani is entrusted with taking Modi's message to important constituencies like industry and diplomats because she's a "very effective communicator". Neither industrialist wished to be identified. "Smriti is an excellent troubleshooter," says Goa's BJP Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. Irani is the "prabhari" or the political incharge of Goa. Parrikar was one of the first CMs to publicly endorse Modi's candidature for PM. This move, many within the BJP say, was engineered by Irani, and one which has earned her some critics in the BJP. "She's an excellent judge of people". Parrikar says. But some are unimpressed. A senior BJP general secretary, not wishing to critique a colleague on record, was unflattering enough when offered the option of an off record assessment: "She salutes the rising sun", the leader said, arguing that Irani was close to Advani when he was the leader and switched to Modi when the latter's influence started growing. Such grumbles about Irani's rise in the party are echoed by few others but Irani professes to be uncomcerned. "I do my work...I don't allow any of this to distract me", she says.

"She's the Modi-led BJP's Sushma Swaraj", said another BJP leader, adding that were there to be a Modi cabinet, Irani is most likely to get a prominent role. Irani herself, like a careful politician, won't entertain any conversation about such future prospects. But her defence of Modi is strikingly direct, "Only negative stories about him sell here (in Delhi and much of the media)...no one here wants to see his humane side". You can't belittle Modi to voters, Irani says, and you can't imagine how professional he is, she adds. Modi, she says, signed as the proposer in her form for Rajya Sabha elections. "I hadn't come with an entourage", Irani recalled, "so he signed my form".

"And after that I got a mass of papers on Gujarat from one of the CM's aides...I was required to study the state". Irani tells this story, she says, to demonstrate that when Modi does talent-spotting, he expects the talent to deliver - quickly. BJP leaders attest to the fact that Irani is diligent in learning on issues that she, as a prominent spokesperson, is expected to speak on. "Modi likes those who work hard... and she works very hard", a BJP leader said. TV star Smriti Irani's widely acknowledged commitment to her political work is another unusual feature of political career. Most stars in North India who have joined politics have been at best showpieces. Irani, a BJP leader said, was always different. Irani started as a BJP activist during her television days. Stardom had its impact sometimes, she recalls. Once when she courted arrest along with Nitin Gadkari and some other BJP leaders in Mumbai, wives of policemen came the police station demanding why "Tulsi" had been arrested. "I was released shortly after that", she says. "Tulsi", of course, was the character Irani played in the one-time hit TV soap, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. "People expected an actor". Irani said,